Business Growth Weblog

Helpful tips and strategies to take your small business to the next level. In this blog, Ron Ameln, publisher of an entrepreneurial newspaper, and a host of business owners and experts share some of the secrets to business success.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Texting For Your Business

Teenagers text almost as much as they talk, IMing quick messages from computer to computer, and SMSing weird abbreviations on cell phones and pagers. They’ve made texting wildly popular—is it possible they’re onto something useful?A text message has many advantages: it is less intrusive than a phone call, but more immediate than an email. It is quiet and discreet, so you can receive and respond to messages in situations where you couldn’t take a call, like meetings and seminars. You can even set your status to “busy” to cut down on unnecessary interruptions. How can you use it in business? Technology guru Wendy Gauntt, owner of St. Louis-based CIO Services, offers the following ideas:* Stay in touch with coworkers in the office and on the road. * Set it up for a client so that you can communicate and share project information updates with ease.* Schedule a meeting while you’re in front of your calendar, without picking up the phone.* Send special alerts to your cell phone, like notification of urgent messages.* Get quick answers to questions with minimal interruptions.* Communicate important information to someone in a meeting who can’t answer a phone call.For more on this story, click here.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Stop Setting Goals--Start Seeing Results

Things change quickly. Very quickly. Whether it is technology, relationships or our health, our lives can change instantly. This is rather ironic because 99% of the population hates change. Change, however, is here to stay. At the gym this morning I thought it was interesting that most of the people working out had iPods—not even around 10 years ago. A few had portable CD players, not even invented when I was growing up.With society changing so quickly, maybe we need to stop and think about how we set goals? From the time we’re children, we’re told to set goals and plow ahead “full-steam” toward those goals. Is this really the right approach? Because the business landscape changes so suddenly, is this “goal-setting strategy” moving us in the wrong direction more often than not?Author Stephen Shapiro certainly thinks so. Shapiro, author of “Goal-Free Living” believes entrepreneurs should be goal-free. Shapiro conducts seminars on corporate innovation and creativity and is enthusiastically spreading the goal-free philosophy.By focusing too heavily on our goals, Shapiro believes we are passing up many other opportunities in the process. According to Shapiro, we should be looking for a significant outcome in everything we do, and it may not be the one we were expecting. He believes this goal-free lifestyle is critical for entrepreneurs because they must have flexibility to change and adapt. How can an entrepreneur approach this change of thinking? In the book, Shapiro offers eight secrets to living free from the constant pressure of goals.1. Use a compass, not a map—have a sense of direction, and then let yourself wander and try new things on the way to fulfilling your aspirations. 2. Trust that you are never lost—every seemingly wrong turn is an opportunity to learn and experience new things. 3. Remember that opportunity knocks often, but sometimes softly—while blindly pursuing our goals, we often miss unexpected and wonderful possibilities. 4. Want what you have—measure your life by your own yardstick and appreciate who you are, what you do, and what you have…now. 5. Seek out adventure—treat your life like the one-time-only journey it is and revel in new and different experiences. 6. Become a people magnet—constantly seek, build, and nurture relationships with new people so that you always have the support and camaraderie of others. 7. Embrace your limits—transform your inadequacies and boundaries into unique qualities you can use to your advantage. 8. Remain detached—focus on the present, act with a commitment to the future, and avoid worrying about how things will turn out.

About Me

As a journalist and owner the St. Louis Small Business Monthly, Ron Ameln has aided entrepreneurs and business owners with helpful, informative and inspiring articles on succeeding in business. Since 1992, Ameln has written thousands of articles on business issues and topics, ranging from “How to Choose A Health Care Plan” to “How To Gain Bank Financing.” Ameln has also written profiles on hundreds of growing businesses. These profiles have offered insight into the challenges faced by businesses, as well as the accomplishments and achievements of these firms. Ameln was named the SBA's National Small Business Journalist of the Year in 2008.